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STUC demands new factory blast inquiry

A CAMPAIGN is to be launched this week in a bid to force a public inquiry into Scotland’s worst industrial accident in a generation.

Nine people were killed and more than 40 others were injured when the Stockline plastics factory in Glasgow exploded last May. Despite a year-long inquiry into the tragedy carried out by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and the Glasgow procurator fiscal, the precise cause of the blast has yet to be established.

On Tuesday the STUC, along with survivors of the explosion and relatives of those who died, are to demand that the advocate general carry out a fresh inquiry into the disaster. The union body will launch public and parliamentary petitions calling for the investigation.

Ian Tasker, an STUC spokesman, said: “The families we are working with want to know why so many people were killed and why so many people were injured. They